Flexible edged plasters repair and finishing tool



Sept. 29, 1959 P. P. PASTORET 2,

FLEXIBLE EDGED PLASTERS REPAIR AND FINISHING TOOL Filed Aug. 16, 1956 i22 25 j l r I .50

INVENTOR Pieff'e' Pas'l'oiet 0 B? TOMB United States Patent FLEXIBLEEDGED 'PL'ASTERS REPAIR AND 'FINISHIN G TOOL Pierre P. Pastoret,.St.Paul, Minn.

Application August '16, 1956, Serial No.1604;459

1 Claim. j(Cl. 72-i1'3..6)

This-invention relatesto a flexible edged plasters re- ;pairand-finishing tool. More particularly the invention or improvementrelates to an improved tool for filling cracks in plastered smooth andsand finished walls to efiecta finish wherein the filledcracksarefim'shed flush with the wall and the filled area blends ;in uniformlyto leave a wall surface wherein the crack doesnot appear as a filled inarea irrespective of expert .or nonexpert handling. In addition, thetoolis conveniently utilizable to apply plaster and sealers aboutthecorner edgesalong bath tubs, coves, rounded surfaces, window casingedges, and the like applications needed particularly in'jhome repairwork.

At present, the use of knives, board edges and .Other or special liketools are utilized to finish and smoothen out filled in crack areas.When such tools are utilized by inexperienced hands, the cracks usuallyshow up and cannot be covered by painting. Consequently, the filling:.of cracks by thenon-expert usuallyleaves a visible defect can fillcracks in walls .havingxsmooth and sand finishes without leaving anyappearanceof the wall having been repaired.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved economicaltool for home use in working with plastic fillers and sealers on visiblesurfaces desired to be given the appearance of blending in smoothly anduniformly with the surfaces to which the fillers and sealers areapplied.

A further object of this invention is to provide an improved finishingtool, for use by the inexperienced workman and the experts, for applyingplaster, plastics and sealers having relatively flexible workingproperties, the tool being provided with flexible tongue edges andflexible smooth edges, with resilient corners, for forcing the plaster,plastic and sealers into cracks and leaving the top surface with asmooth or sanded appearance, generally obtained only by the workmanshipof an expert and with a saving of about 75% of the time usually requiredfor such work.

Further objects and advantages will be apparent from the followingdescription of the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure l is a top plan view of my plaster tool.

Figure 2 is a perspective of the structure shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a perspective of a modification of the structure shown inFigures 1 and 2.

Figure 4 is an end view of the structure shown in Figures 1 and 2.

In the application of plaster to fill a wall crack, the problem is toleave the wall finish of uniform appearance. The difiiculty is inmatching the filled area to the balance of the wall plaster. On a smoothsurface this problem is not so diflicult. However, when the surface hasa sand finish, there is no known conveniently 2,906,115 Patented Sept.29, 1959 i2 1 usable tool which affords the non-expert with a means forfilling and leveling the crack area with a sand covering, so as to leavethe wall withits'normal finished .ap;

pearance.

To provide a structure for this purpose, usable by either a right orleft handedpersom there is shownn'n Figures 1 and 2 arectangularlyshaped rubber block A .shaped to beheld and supported by the fingers of:the

hand when pushed or dragged across a body of plaster on plastic-materialusedito fill cracks.

The block A is a cutor molded resilient rubber material 10 .havingathickened resilient center section .11 on the topsideanda like thickenedcenter section 1-2 ,onthe base-side. .From the center; section 11, eachof the .two opposite sides 13 and 14, along the length of the block A,slope graduallyin a; rounded taper to the relatively thinner outside.flexible edges 15 and 16, respectively. The undersides 17 and 18 of base1-2 are-similarly gradually tapered to provideedge -15 asanarrow-resilieng-flat block surface and edge 16 as a tapered resilientfeather edge, respectively.

The relative ends 20 and 21 of top section '11 :are also graduallytapered towards the outside'end edges 22 and 23, respectively. The ,endsof the under surface, asillustrated by25, one only being shown, areexactly similarly tapered as-the ends 20 and 2 1 to form the thinresilent feather blade, edge 22 and the resilient blunt or narrow bladeedge 23. I V

The side edge 16 1is-provided with a series of narrow slits or cuts,.asat 27 and 28, extending inparallel relaitionship along therlength ofthe-sloping sides .14 and .18.

The slits 27 are cut at right angles .to the edge 16and to a. slightlygreater depth into the body of the block than the slits:28. The spacings29 between therelativecuts '27 and 23;form:a:serieslofclose adjacentresilient flexible fingers or tongues having a thickened basesupportedasan integral portion .of-therubber block with the outermost.endshavingthe; ability'to-fiex and spread-in order :to pass over :asand surface --,wit hout dragging or pitting up, the

sand. With-the cuts 2.7 provided ata greaterde pth than cuts 28,slightly more spacing and flexing of the flexible fingers and tonguesare obtained in different sizes of sand grains. The feathered end edge22 is provided with another series of parallel cuts 30 extending atright angles for an equal distance into the relatively sloping ends, oneside only being shown at 20, which forms the edge 22. The row ofparallel cuts 30 provides a series of closely adjacent small, integralflexible fingers or tongues 31 of relatively uniform size which producesa comparatively uniform edge for passing over fine sand grains in apatching and finishing operation. The closely adjacent relationship ofthe tongues or fingers 29 and 31 are such as to make the edges 16 and22, respectively, appear as a solid body with relative slits beingdetermined only by close observation and bending or spreading of therelatively resilient body, or bending and displacing the flexibletongues.

The modified structure shown by rectangular block B in Figure 3 isformed of a molded rubber with the top section 11' and is formedsimilarly to the top section 11 shown in Figures 1, 2 and 4. Theopposite sides 13' and 14' and ends 20 and 21 are leveled or taperedtowards the resilient edges of the block B. The taper of sides 13' and21' are such as to form the narrow blunt side edges 15 and 23'. Thetaper of the sides 14' and 20' are such as to form relatively featherededges 16' and 22'.

The modification is provided by forming the block B with a flatunderside 34 (not specifically turned to show the flat surface)recognizable in this view with the elimination of the underside portion12 and its associated tapering sides and ends. In addition, a furtherillustrative modification is that the series of slits 28 cut throughalong 3 the elongated edge 16, while they may be of the char acterdescribed with reference to Figure 1, are illustra tively of a uniformdepth to provide displaceable tongues or fingers 29 for leveling out aflat sand surface and giving uniform decorative swirls in sanded wallfinishes. The more narrow end 22 is provided with a series of cuts 30 toform the parallel alignments of relatively flexible fingers 31' whichare displaced when sliding the block the adjacent wall surfaces with anysand covering left uniformly distributed over the fresh plaster orplastic by displacement of the resilient tongues or fingers, asdescribed. When the wall area is smooth and without a 'sand finish, therelatively blunt sides 15, 15 or 23, 23

are pulled over the surface of a plaster or plastic to squeeze it into acrack and leave it at the level of the adjacent wall surfaces. The flatlevel surface 34 of block B is used to work and smoothen out a largesurface area, when desired.

In addition, either of the tools are applicable to finishing curvedsanded or smooth surfaces and corners. The resilient block bodies A andB having corners 35 and 35 are provided with flexible fingers 29, 29'and 31, 31' at right angles, respectively. The relatively resilientnature of the rubber block body corners 35 and 35 permits them to followsanded surface corner contours and the fingers or tongues, as described,are displaced by the sand as the tool is moved or pulled over a sandedsurface. The opposite corners 36 and 36' of blocks A and B,respectively, are provided to finish smooth surfaces of corners androunded finishes. For example, in sealing cracks with a plastic stripabout bathtubs, windows and the like, the relative resilient corners 36and 36' are used to force the sealer into the cracks and as the toolsare pulled under the application of pressure across the plastic, theplastic is forced into the crack leaving a smoothly rounded surfaceblending in with the relative edges of the crack. Simultaneously, thesmooth Wall surfaces along the edge of the crack are wiped relativelyclean of any deposits of the plastic.

Additional work fields for the tool is in ceramics, boat building andrepair and automobile building and repair.

The tool, as herein described, is formed of rubber or synthetic rubberymaterial compounded with conventional stiffening fillers in aconventional manner to provide a stiffened but flexible body, asdescribed.

In accordancewith the patent statutes, I have described the principlesof construction and operation of my flexible edged plasters repair andfinishing tool, and while I have endeavored to set forth the bestembodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood that obvious changesmay be made within the scope of the following claim without departingfrom the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

A finishing tool for plaster and the like comprising a generallyrectangular body of resilient rubber like material having a thickenedportion tapering to a substantially straight feather edge along itsparallel sides and its parallel ends, a series of parallel cuts in saidfeather edge extending into said body at substantially right anglesthereto from one of said sides and from one of said ends, said cutsforming a series of resilient tongues in side by side contactingrelation of progressively increasing thickness to form a thickened basewith alternate cuts extending from one of said sides being longer thanthe other, the ends of said tongues forming a continuous edge in normalposition but said tongues being capable of individually flexing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,055,406 Mason et al Mar. 11, 1913 1,388,282 Meredith Aug. 23, 19211,575,318 Cowan Mar. 2, 1926 1,761,109 Dietz June 3, 1930 1,868,013Humphreys July 19, 1932 FOREIGN PATENTS 810,076 France Nov. 19, 1936

